Industrial Engineering

"I've been in this business for 25 years now and I would say the job
prospects for industrial engineering graduates are as good as I've ever seen
them," proclaims Dr. Jasper Shealy, professor and department head, industrial
and manufacturing engineering, at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in New
York.

And Shealy isn't the only academician raving about employment opportunities
for new industrial engineers (IEs). Professors and engineering department chairs
at both Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., and the University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor, are equally enthusiastic.

Options Abound

"The employment outlook is excellent," notes the University of Michigan's Dr.
John Birge, who is professor and department chair, industrial and operations
engineering. "Major manufacturers, consulting firms and big accounting firms
nationwide are recruiting heavily," he says, noting that systems integration
work, "Year 2000" problems and the financial service sector are driving much of
the demand for quality engineers right now.

"Manufacturing, service, healthcare, transportation, communications...these
are all areas where jobs exist," he adds. "And there's a lot of work coming out
of consulting firms. Price Waterhouse is just one example of a large company
grabbing as many people as they can."

At Northwestern, Dr. Mark Daskin, professor and department chair, industrial
engineering and management services, notes that the positive employment outlook
is evidenced by the sheer number of students receiving and accepting solid job
offers. "I haven't heard of any students having problems," Daskin reports. "A
lot of students have at least one offer, many have accepted positions and some
even have multiple offers."

Daskin attributes the upbeat job climate to an overall healthy American
economy. Add to that the aggressive recruiting being conducted by many
consulting firms, where roughly half of Northwestern's industrial engineering
grads go to work, and the news is good, to say the least.

Like Birge at the University of Michigan, Daskin also notes the growing
number of financial services businesses seeking to hire engineering grads as
more firms turn their focus to information systems. "This kind of work includes
things such as helping industry identify the information technologies that are
going to be needed and setting up both the technical and organizational systems
that are going to use high-tech information processing," Daskin explains.

Along those lines, Birge comments that systems integration is an
ever-increasing focus for a lot of firms today. "People are looking at trying to
get systems to do more things for them," he says. "They're trying to build
intelligence into the systems they already have. IEs are well-prepared for that
because they are trained to take a systems view."

Technological advancements in the logistics field are also driving a lot of
employment, according to Birge. "Managing and structuring global satellite
systems has been a particularly strong area for industrial engineers," he
says.

A slight variation on the hiring trend comes from Shaly at RIT. "It appears
that more medium-sized companies, as opposed to the very large or very small
companies out there, are recruiting our students," he says.

Crucial Co-op Connections

Thanks to a strong cooperative education program at RIT, graduates there
rarely have difficulty finding industry positions, particularly in a climate so
positively fueled by a healthy economy. "Our co-op based program gives RIT
students a major advantage," Shealy says. "Roughly half of the job offers that
come through are from co-op employers. As a result of five quarters of co-op
experience, our students have a wealth of practical experience to draw from.
When they join a company they are already contributing members."

Louise Carrese is the co-op coordinator for industrial engineering at RIT and
she couldn't agree more. "Our co-op program provides a pipeline for job
opportunities," Carrese says. "In the area of industrial manufacturing, right
now the demand far exceeds our supply. We've had an absolutely outstanding fall
and winter recruiting period. We've had a record number of companies coming to
campus."

Carrese cites big names like Eastman Kodak, General Motors and Corning as
heavy recruiters at RIT. Additionally, smaller companies and service industries
are seeking experienced graduates.

"The truth is," Carrese notes, "most of our students start their careers as
industrial and manufacturing engineers and then go into business for themselves
as consultants. That seems to be the general progression."

Although reputable universities like RIT draw recruiters from across the
country, Shealy believes the strongest pull for his students comes from
employers in the Northeast. "Our reach is nationwide, but we're more regionally
driven," he says.

As for graduates of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Birge says
there's no limit to the kinds of offers likely to come in. "Our students get
hired in virtually every sector of the economy," he reports. "It's hard to think
of places that wouldn't be hiring. Companies are competing in the areas of
responsiveness and customization. Responsiveness is something that requires the
development of efficient procedures and efficient systems. That's the kind of
thing IEs do."

Birge sites Intel as one company hiring a particularly large number of grads
from the University of Michigan. "Even chip manufacturers, such as Intel, and
semiconductor manufacturers are becoming more efficiency-based rather than just
product-based," he comments.

The Skills They Seek

In keeping with all of the economic and business trends affecting employment
in the industrial engineering sector, good problem-solving skills seem to be at
or near the top of every recruiter's wish list when seeking new-hires.
"Employers want someone to be able to take a systems view of things, to look
from a broad perspective and be able to isolate the essential parts of any
system," Birge says.

"Computing skills are another important emphasis in our program," he adds.
"We want our students to be familiar with systems, but also in terms of
diagnosis, to be able to lay out a system, define procedures and processes. We
also try to give students a good sense of the bottom line, which is what
employers want to see."

Daskin of Northwestern notes that in addition to a strong technical
background, employers like to see experience in team projects, as well as a
solid grip on written and communication skills. "About 30 percent of our
graduates have been through a co-op program, so they have a lot of exposure to
the business world already," he says.

Lastly, according to Carrese of RIT, companies want new-hires who can hit the
ground running. "They want to see a good sense of inner logic. And they want
people who can work as part of a team," she says. "Most of the time you're not
designing or reviewing projects in a vacuum. You're sitting around the table
with a whole team of people who at some point will design, touch or use the
product being developed."